Sierra Club Calls on Hillary Clinton to Weigh Risks of Toxic Pipeline to Farms, Water, Air

The Sierra
Club is mobilizing thousands of citizens to contact Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and urge her to fully evaluate the risks of a proposed
pipeline that would carry the world's dirtiest oil from Canada into the
United States.

Clinton
indicated this week while speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San
Francisco that the State Department may be leaning toward approving
permits for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, despite the fact that
the agency has not finished reviewing the project or thousands of
comments from Americans opposing it.

The State
Department must approve permits for the pipeline, which would run
through the Midwest, putting drinking water and agriculture at risk and
feeding air pollution from refineries.

Nebraska
Senators Johanns and Nelson, whose state would be heavily affected by
spills and pollution from the pipeline, both spoke out, calling for
Clinton to fully assess the project's risks before deciding.

Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune:

We are
confident that once Secretary Clinton has a chance to carefully review
the serious risks this project poses to America's health, environment,
and economy, she will decide against permitting this pipeline.

Leaders from
different agencies and different sides of the aisle have raised red
flags about the Keystone XL pipeline. Tens of thousands of American
citizens have spoken out against it.

The State
Department has not finished environmental review of the project, but any
thorough review will show that the costs of piping tar sands oil into
America are simply too high. Building this pipeline is the equivalent of
putting 6.5 million new cars on our roads. President Obama has taken
important steps will reduce oil dependence and cut pollution--like his
recent announcement increasing fuel economy standards. Building this
toxic oil pipeline would undo the progress we've made. It would be like
building more than a dozen new coal plants.

Tar sands oil
is the dirtiest oil on earth, producing three times the global warming
pollution as conventional oil. Extraction of tar sands requires
clear-cutting ancient forests and leaving behind toxic lakes that have
been linked to cancer in downstream communities.

In her
comments this week, Secretary Clinton said, 'We're either going to be
dependent on dirty oil from the Gulf or dirty oil from Canada.'

We do not have
to choose between dirty oil from the Gulf or dirty oil from Canada.
Instead, we should be investing in domestic sources of clean energy,
like wind and solar and efficiency measures that will keep dollars and
jobs here at home.

www.sierraclub.org/dirtyfuels